KR102087170B1 - Pig Apparatus for Pipeline - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a pig device, by mounting a heating unit having a heating function at the front end of the main body moving inside the pipe, when the movement of the main body slows or stops below a reference value by accumulation in the pipe, heat is generated By operating the unit, it is possible to phase change the accumulated material in the front of the main body, and accordingly, a pig device capable of conveniently and quickly cleaning the inside of the pipe without additional work such as cutting, welding, and repairing the pipe. to provide.

Description

Pig Apparatus for Pipeline

The present invention relates to a pig device. More specifically, when the movement of the main body slows or stops below a reference value due to accumulation in the piping by installing a heating unit having a heating function at the front end of the main body moving inside the piping, the heating unit is operated to operate the main body. It relates to a pig device that can change the accumulated accumulation in the front of the, and accordingly can conveniently and quickly perform the internal cleaning of the pipe without additional work such as cutting, welding, and repair of the pipe.

With the rapid internationalization of industrialization and the development of the industry, the use of resources such as petroleum is gradually increasing, and accordingly, the stable production and supply of oil has emerged as a very important problem at the global level.

For this reason, the development of marginal fields or deep-sea oil fields in small areas, which have been neglected for lack of economic feasibility until recently, has become economical. Accordingly, research and development on a submarine production system that stably produces crude oil from a subsea oil well and efficiently transports it to offshore facilities has been actively conducted.

The submarine production system is composed of X-mas Tree, Jumper, Manifold, Pipeline, Riser, etc. Among them, the pipeline, riser, etc. are in the form of piping. It has the role of a transport pipe to transport the produced crude oil.

Crude oil is generally a mixture of various components, and some of the components contained in the crude oil form waxes at specific temperature and pressure conditions and accumulate in the transport pipe, thereby acting as a factor that inhibits the flow of crude oil into the pipe. In addition, when water is included in the crude oil, hydrate is formed at a specific pressure and temperature condition to act as an element that inhibits the flow of the crude oil in the pipe. These waxes and hydrates have characteristics that occur mainly under low temperature conditions.

Therefore, in the process of producing crude oil, various accumulations such as wax and hydrate are generated inside the transport pipe, and therefore, the transport pipe needs to be periodically cleaned. As such, a pig device is generally used to clean the inside of a pipe such as a pipeline. The pig device moves from the pig launcher at the end of the pipe or at a specific location to the pig receiver, and in this process, the piling accumulated in the pipe is scraped off and cleaned.

At this time, if the amount of accumulated accumulation inside the pipe is greater than expected, the pig device may stop during the movement process. That is, the pig device moves the inside of the pipe due to the pressure difference acting on the front end and the rear end by raising the pressure at the rear end relative to the pressure at the front end, and when there is a larger amount of accumulation than expected in the pipe, the accumulation There is a case where the inside of the piping is blocked by water and the movement of the pig device is impossible. In this case, it is possible to move the pig device by further increasing the pressure at the rear end of the pig device, but the possibility of moving the pig device due to such a pressure increase is limited, and in particular, to increase the pressure level inside the pipe, the internal pressure of the pipe itself Considering that, there is a limit that it is impossible to exceed a certain level.

Therefore, when the pig device is stopped by accumulation in the piping, it is difficult to perform additional operations such as cutting, welding, and repairing the piping, and economical damage such as process delay caused by this occurs. there is a problem.

Domestic utility model registration No. 20-0346302

The present invention was invented to solve the problems of the prior art, the object of the present invention is to move the main body by the accumulation in the piping by mounting a heating unit having a heating function at the front end of the main body moving inside the piping. If it slows down or stops below this standard, the heat accumulator can be operated to change the accumulated material in the front of the main body, and accordingly, the piping can be conveniently and quickly removed without additional work such as cutting, welding, or repairing the pipe. It is to provide a pig device capable of performing an internal cleaning operation.

The present invention is arranged in the piping to clean the inside of the piping, and a pig device moving along the piping by a pressure difference acting on the front end and the rear end, inserted into the inside of the piping to move along the piping The main body to be placed; And a heating unit mounted on the main body and operating to perform a heating function.

At this time, the heating unit may be mounted at the front end of the main body.

In addition, the heating unit may operate to generate heat by receiving power.

In addition, a battery may be mounted inside the main body to supply power to the heating unit.

In addition, the heating unit is a heating block mounted on the front end of the main body; And a heating coil that is supplied with power and generates heat and inserts into the heating block to transfer heat to the heating block.

In addition, the heating block may be formed in a form in which the cross-sectional area becomes smaller as it goes toward the shearing direction.

In addition, a plurality of heat dissipating protrusions protruding outward may be formed on the outer circumferential surface of the heating block.

In addition, a separate controller is mounted on the main body, and the controller can operate and control the heating unit so that the heating temperature of the heating unit is adjusted.

In addition, a movement detection sensor capable of measuring the movement speed or acceleration of the main body may be mounted on the main body.

In addition, the controller may control the heating unit according to the measurement value of the movement detection sensor.

In addition, the controller may control the heating unit so that the heating temperature of the heating unit is maintained at a preset first set temperature.

On the other hand, the present invention is a pig device control method for motion control of the pig device, comprising: measuring a movement speed or acceleration of the main body; And operating the heating unit such that the heating temperature of the heating unit reaches a preset temperature.

According to the present invention, when the movement of the main body slows or stops below the reference value by the accumulation in the piping by installing a heating unit having a heating function at the front end of the main body moving inside the piping, the heating unit is operated to operate the main It is possible to phase change the accumulated matter in the front of the body, and accordingly, it is possible to conveniently and quickly perform the internal cleaning of the pipe without additional work such as cutting, welding, and repair of the pipe.

1 is a conceptual diagram schematically showing the configuration of a pig device according to an embodiment of the present invention;
2 is a view schematically showing a state of adjustment of the battery capacity of the pig device shown in FIG. 1;
3 is a conceptual diagram conceptually showing an operating state of the pig device shown in FIG. 1;
4 is a conceptual diagram schematically showing the configuration of a pig device according to another embodiment of the present invention;
5 exemplarily shows various modified examples of the heating unit of the pig device shown in FIG. 4,
6 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the operation structure and principle of the pig device shown in FIG. 4,
FIG. 7 is an operation state diagram showing the operation state of the pig device shown in FIG. 4 step by step according to an operation flow.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. First, it should be noted that in adding reference numerals to the components of each drawing, the same components have the same reference numerals as possible even though they are displayed on different drawings. In addition, in describing the present invention, when it is determined that detailed descriptions of related well-known structures or functions may obscure the subject matter of the present invention, detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

1 is a conceptual diagram schematically showing the configuration of a pig device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a battery capacity adjustment state of the pig device shown in FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a diagram. It is a conceptual diagram conceptually showing the operating state of the pig device shown in 1.

Pig apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is disposed inside the pipe 10 so as to clean the inside of the pipe 10, such as a pipeline of a submarine production system, piping by the pressure difference (P1-P2) of the front and rear ends As a device moving along (10), it is configured to include a main body 100 and a heating unit 200.

The main body 100 is formed so that the diameter of the outer circumferential surface is smaller than or equal to the inner diameter of the pipe 10 so as to be moved along the pipe 10 inside the pipe 10, and is inserted and disposed inside the pipe 10, It may be formed in a cylindrical shape, but alternatively, it may be formed in various polygonal column shapes according to the needs of the user.

A battery coupling portion 101 may be formed inside the main body 100 so that the battery 300 described below can be inserted and mounted, and the battery 300 is inserted into the battery coupling portion 101. The battery connection terminal 102 may be formed to be in electrical contact with the battery terminal. In addition, a controller 400 and a movement detection sensor 500 may be mounted inside the main body 100 in addition to the battery coupling unit 101, and detailed description thereof will be described later.

The heating unit 200 is mounted on the main body 100, as shown in Figure 1, it is preferable that it is mounted on the front end of the main body 100 in the traveling direction. The heating unit 200 is configured to perform a self-heating function, for example, may be configured to generate heat by receiving power.

At this time, in order to supply power to the heating unit 200, the above-described battery coupling portion 101 is formed in the main body 100, and a plurality of batteries 300 can be mounted on the battery coupling portion 101, It may be configured to supply power to the heating unit 200 through the battery 300 mounted on the battery coupling unit 101.

As shown in FIG. 1, the heating unit 200 includes a heating block 210 coupled to the front end of the main body 100, and a heating block 210 to receive heat and transfer heat to the heating block 210. It may be configured to include a heating coil 220 in contact with the insert 210. At this time, the heating block 210 is preferably formed of a material having excellent thermal conductivity so that external heat dissipation is efficiently performed.

According to such a structure, the pig device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention generates heat when the movement speed is significantly reduced or stopped by the accumulation 30 inside the pipe during the process of moving inside the pipe 10 By operating the unit 200 to heat the accumulation 30, the accumulation 30 in the solid state can be changed into a gas state or a liquid state, through which cutting, welding, repair, etc. for the pipe 10 It is possible to smoothly move the inside of the pipe 10 without additional work.

Looking in more detail, the pig device 20 is based on the difference (P1-P2) between the shear pressure (P2) acting on the front end of the pig device (20) and the rear end pressure (P1) acting on the rear end inside the piping (10). Thereby proceeding along the piping 10. At this time, a specific position of the piping 10 is equipped with a pig launcher (pig launcher) and a pig receiver (pig receiver) to supply pressure to the front and rear ends of the pig device 20, and accordingly the pig device 20 It moves in the direction from the pig launcher toward the pig retriever.

The pig device 20 moving in this way has a relatively large amount of accumulation 30 in front of the pig device 20 inside the pipe 10 as shown in FIG. ) Is accumulated, the pig device 20 may stop moving further and stop due to resistance caused by the accumulation 30.

In this case, as shown in (b) of FIG. 3, by operating the heating unit 200 to heat the accumulation 30, gas in the solid state 30 located in front of the pig device 20 is gas It can be changed to a state or liquid state. Thus, when the accumulation 30 is changed to a gas state or a liquid state, since the resistance caused by the accumulation 30 disappears, the pig device 20 may proceed forward again.

Therefore, the pig device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention, even if the movement is stopped by the accumulation inside the pipe 10 in the middle of the pipe 10 without additional work such as cutting repair work for the pipe 10 The movement process may be resumed by simply operating the heating unit 200.

At this time, depending on the type or state of the accumulation 30, the heating performance of the heating unit 200 may vary, and for this purpose, it is preferable that the capacity of the battery 300 can be freely changed. For example, the battery coupling portion 101 of the main body 100 is formed such that a plurality of batteries 300 are inserted and mounted, and a plurality of batteries 300 as shown in FIG. 1 or 3 according to a user's needs ) Is preferably inserted or coupled so that only a part of them are insertable.

On the other hand, the heat generation performance, such as the heating temperature of the heating unit 200, can be adjusted based on this by grasping the state of the accumulation 30 inside the piping 10, for example, the piping 10 is a subsea oil well In the case of the pipeline, it is preferable to be configured to be able to control the heat generation temperature and the like by reflecting the conditions for generating the wax and hydrate of the target oil well. To this end, the main body 100 may be equipped with a separate controller 400 that controls the heating unit 200 to control the heating temperature of the heating unit 200. The controller 400 may be configured to perform various control functions such as controlling the heating temperature of the heating unit 200 as well as the operation on / off function of the heating unit 200.

In addition, a plurality of heat dissipation protrusions 211 protruding outward may be formed on the outer circumferential surface of the heat generation block 210 of the heat generation unit 200 to improve heat generation performance of the heat generation unit 200. Through this, since the heat dissipation function through the heating block 210 is improved, the heating efficiency of the accumulation 30 may be further improved.

In addition, the heating unit 200 may perform a function of smoothing the progress of the pig device 20 in addition to the function of heating the accumulation 30 accumulated in front of the pig device 20 through self-heating. That is, since the heating block 210 of the heating unit 200 is disposed at the front end of the main body 100, it is inserted into the central portion of the accumulation 30 accumulated inside the pipe during the process of the main body 100 It can be formed in a form in which the cross-sectional area becomes smaller as it goes toward the shearing direction, and through this shape, the main body 100 can penetrate the accumulation 30, so that the movement of the main body 100 can be smoother. have.

On the other hand, as described above, when the moving speed of the pig device 20, more specifically, the main body 100 is stopped, the heating unit 200 is operated through the controller 400, at this time, the main body A sensor for knowing whether the moving speed of the (100) is a stationary state or a normal speed state may be separately provided. To this end, the main body 100 may be equipped with a movement detection sensor 500 capable of measuring the movement speed or acceleration of the main body 100, and the above-described controller 400 measures the movement detection sensor 500 It may be configured to control the operation of the heating unit 200 according to the value. That is, when the movement speed of the main body 100 is measured in a stopped state by the movement detection sensor 500, the controller 400 receives the measurement value of the movement detection sensor 500 and the heating unit 200 It can be controlled to work.

Of course, unlike this, the controller 400 may operate and control the heating unit 200 such that the heating temperature of the heating unit 200 is maintained at a preset first set temperature during the entire movement process of the main body 100.

Accordingly, the pig device 20 according to an embodiment of the present invention may be controlled such that the heating unit 200 operates only when the main body 100 is stopped while moving through the movement detection sensor 500 as described above. Alternatively, unlike this, the heating unit 200 may be continuously controlled during the entire movement process of the main body 100. When the heating unit 200 is operated only when stopped, it is advantageous in terms of energy efficiency, and when the heating unit 200 is continuously operated, the heating unit 200 is operated without a separate sensing operation, so that the entire moving process is performed. It will be advantageous in that it can be performed more quickly.

4 is a conceptual diagram schematically showing the configuration of a pig device according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating various modified examples of the heating unit of the pig device illustrated in FIG. 4. , And FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the operation structure and principle of the pig device shown in FIG. 4, and FIG. 7 is an operation state diagram showing the operation state of the pig device shown in FIG. 4 step by step according to an operation flow.

Pig device 20 according to another embodiment of the present invention is moved by the pressure difference (P1-P2) acting on the front end and the rear end, the piping 10 to move along the pipe 10 as described above It is configured to include a main body 100 that is inserted and disposed inside the, and a heating unit 200 mounted to the main body 100 and operated to perform a heating function. Since the pig device 20 has the same principle as the pig device 20 described in FIGS. 1 to 3 and its operating principle, a description will be focused on the differences here.

The main body 100 is configured to include a front body 110 positioned in the front of the traveling direction and a rear body 120 coupled to the rear of the front body 110. At this time, the rear body 120 is coupled to the front body 110 to move relative to the front body 110 in the proximity or remote direction according to the size change of the pressure difference (P1-P2).

The front body 110 and the rear body 120 may be mutually coupled by a separate intermediate connection module 130, and the intermediate connection module 130 contracts and expands due to an external pressure change to change its length. It can be formed of.

For example, the intermediate connection module 130 is of an elastic spring (not shown) disposed between the front body 110 and the rear body 120 so that both ends are connected to the front body 110 and the rear body 120, respectively. It may be configured in the form of a hydraulic or gas cylinder (not shown). Of course, it may be configured in a combination form in which an elastic spring is mounted inside a hydraulic or gas cylinder, and in addition, it can be modified in various forms that contract and expand by external pressure.

On the other hand, inside the main body 100, as described in Figures 1 to 3, the battery coupling portion 101 is formed so that the battery 300 capable of supplying power to the heating unit 200 is mounted, the battery The coupling portion 101 is formed to control the number of mounting of the battery 300 and the connection terminal 102 is formed to be connected to the heating unit 200 in a state where the battery 300 is mounted.

The heating unit 200 may be configured to generate heat by receiving power through a battery 300 mounted on the main body 100, for example, a heating block 210 coupled to the rear body 120, It may be configured to include a heating coil 220 in contact with the heating block 210 so as to generate heat by receiving power and to transfer heat to the heating block 210.

The heating unit 200 may be coupled to the rear body 120 such that the rear body 120 protrudes in front of the front body 110 as it moves closer to the front body 110. That is, in the normal state, as shown in Figure 4, the rear body 120 is supported by the intermediate connection module 130 and is maintained at a predetermined distance from the front body 110, at this time, the heating unit 200 is the front It is located inside the body 110. The through hole 111 is formed in the front body 110 for the front projection of the heating unit 200, and the pressure acting on the rear end of the main body 100 is increased to P1 + α as shown in FIG. 6. When the intermediate connection module 130 is contracted, the rear body 120 moves in a direction close to the front body 110, and accordingly, the heating unit 200 coupled to the rear body 120 is connected to the front body ( 110).

The heat generating unit 200 may be formed in a form in which the cross-sectional area decreases toward the shear direction, as shown in FIG. 5 (a), the cross-sectional area decreases toward the shear direction in the entire section of the heating unit 200. It may be formed of or as shown in Figure 5 (b) it may be formed in a form that the cross-sectional area becomes smaller as it goes in the shear direction only in the front end of the heating unit 200.

In addition, a plurality of heat dissipation protrusions 230 protruding outward from the outer circumferential surface of the heat generation block 210 may be formed in the heat generation unit 200 to improve heat generation performance.

On the other hand, the main body 100 may be equipped with an operation switch 600 that operates to operate the heating unit 200 as the rear body 120 moves closer to the front body 110. The operation switch 600 includes a fixed contact 610 formed on the front body 110 and a rear body (110) to contact the fixed contact 610 as the rear body 120 moves closer to the front body 110. 120), and may be configured to supply power to the heating unit 200 as the fixed contact 610 and the movable contact 620 contact.

According to this configuration, as shown in FIG. 6, when the pressure acting on the rear end of the main body 100 increases from P1 to P1 + α, the rear body 120 moves in a direction closer to the front body 110. By moving, and thus the fixed contact 610 and the movable contact 620 contact, power is supplied to the heating unit 200. At this time, the heating unit 200 moves with the rear body 120 to protrude in front of the front body 110.

7 shows the operating state of the pig device 20 described above. First, as shown in FIG. 7 (a), the pig device 20 is driven by the pressure difference (P1-P2) of the front end and the rear end. If the movement is stopped in the piping 10 and the movement stops or becomes slower than the reference value during movement, the heating unit 200 is operated to heat the accumulation 30.

The method of operating the heating unit 200 is performed by increasing the pressure at the rear end of the pig device 20 to a value greater than or equal to a reference value (P1 + α) using a pig launcher or the like. When the pressure at the rear end of the pig device 20 is increased to a reference value (P1 + α) or higher, the pressure difference at the front end and the rear end of the pig device 20 increases as shown in FIGS. 7B and 7C. Therefore, the intermediate connection module 130 is contracted so that the rear body 120 comes close to the front body 110. In this process, the heating unit 200 moves together with the rear body 120 to protrude in front of the front body 110, and the movable contact 620 formed on the rear body 120 is fixed to the front body 110 The contact 610 is contacted.

When the operation switch 600 is operated in such a way that the movable contact 620 and the fixed contact 610 are in contact with each other, power is supplied to the heating unit 200 so that the heating unit 200 generates heat. As shown in (d) and (e) of FIG. 7, the accumulation 30 around the heating unit 200 is changed into a gas state or a liquid state by heating.

When the accumulation 30 disappears by heating, the front body 110 may move forward, as shown in FIG. 7 (f), so that the contact of the movable contact 620 and the fixed contact 610 Is released. In this state, the pressure at the rear end of the pig device 20 is returned to the P1 state again. Accordingly, the rear body 120 moves relative to the direction away from the front body 110 and returns to the original state.

As described above, the main body 100 returned to the original state has a pressure difference of P1-P2 at the front end and the rear end, respectively. In this case, since the accumulation 30 is disappeared in front of the main body 100, the pig device ( 20) proceeds forward in a normal moving state.

In FIGS. 4 to 7, the controller and the motion detection sensor described in FIGS. 1 to 3 are not described, but configurations not described may be applied to the pig device described in FIGS. 4 to 7 in the same manner.

In addition, the pig device described above has been described as changing the accumulation to a gaseous state or a liquid state by heating the accumulation inside the pipe through a heating unit. It would be more advantageous if applied to. This is because, as described in the prior art, deposits such as wax and hydrate are easily generated inside the pipeline, and these types of deposits can be easily phase-changed by heating through a heating unit. However, the pig device according to the present invention can be applied to all types of piping lines that are commonly used on the sea or on land, in addition to the pipelines of the submarine production system.

The above description is merely illustrative of the technical idea of the present invention, and those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains may make various modifications and variations without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are not intended to limit the technical spirit of the present invention, but to explain, and the scope of the technical spirit of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments. The scope of protection of the present invention should be interpreted by the claims below, and all technical spirits within the scope equivalent thereto should be interpreted as being included in the scope of the present invention.

10: piping 20: pig device
30: accumulation 100: main body
101: battery connection portion 110: front body
120: rear body 130: intermediate connection module
200: heating unit 210: heating block
220: heating coil 300: battery
400: controller 500: movement detection sensor
600: operation switch 610: fixed contact
620: movable contact

Claims (12)

In the piping device which is disposed inside the pipe so as to clean the inside of the pipe and moves along the pipe by a pressure difference acting on the front end and the rear end,
A main body inserted and disposed inside the pipe to move along the pipe; And
Included in the heating unit is mounted to the main body to operate to perform the heating function;
The heating unit
A heating block mounted on the front end of the main body; And
And a heating coil supplied with power to generate heat and inserted into the heating block to transfer heat to the heating block. According to claim 1,
The heating unit is a pig device, characterized in that mounted in the front end of the main body. According to claim 2,
Pigment device characterized in that the heating unit is operated to generate heat by receiving power. The method of claim 3,
Pig device, characterized in that the main body is provided with a battery therein to supply power to the heating unit. delete According to claim 1,
The heating block is a pig device, characterized in that formed in a form that the cross-sectional area becomes smaller toward the shear direction. According to claim 1,
Pig device, characterized in that a plurality of heat dissipating projections projecting in the outer direction on the outer peripheral surface of the heating block. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 and 6 to 7,
A separate controller is mounted on the main body,
The controller is a pig device, characterized in that the operation of the heating unit to control the heating temperature of the heating unit. The method of claim 8,
The main body is equipped with a motion detection sensor capable of measuring the movement speed or acceleration of the main body, characterized in that the pig device. The method of claim 9,
The controller is a pig device, characterized in that for detecting the movement and stop of the main body according to the movement speed or acceleration measurement value of the movement detection sensor to operate the heating unit. The method of claim 8,
The controller is a pig device, characterized in that the operation of the heating unit so that the heating temperature of the heating unit is maintained at a preset first set temperature. A pig device control method for operatingly controlling the pig device according to claim 1,
Measuring a movement speed or acceleration of the main body; And
Operating the heating unit such that the heating temperature of the heating unit reaches a preset temperature.
Pig device control method comprising a.

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